Information About the Node

K5VPW 441.625 mHz is a two mode digital node running D-Star and C4FM (YSF, FCS). It is open to all hams and is located in Northeast San Antonio, inside Loop 410. Feel free to use the node locally, link to a reflector, talk group, node or a repeater. If you do link somewhere, please unlink when you are finished. The transceiver is a Yaesu FT-7800 driving a Mirage-D26 amplifier. Both are cooled by external fans. The antenna is a 11db gain vertical, up 25 feet at the base. It is fed with 1/2 inch hardline. 35 watts are delivered to the antenna. The node controller is a Raspberry Pi V3 with 1 gb of RAM and a 32gb SD card. It is connected to a STM32-DVM radio interface. The Raspberry Pi image is Pi-Star configured as a simplex node. Modes enabled are D-Star and C4FM. Internet speeds are 950mb download and 950mb upload.

The node works on a first come first serve basis between the 2 digital modes. If someone is on a mode, and users wish to use a different mode, they will have to wait 10 seconds until the transmission in the current mode is finished. After 10 seconds, simply key up on the mode you wish to use and the node will switch to that mode automatically.